After fixing the fence, Duke had time to enjoy the morning. The rain had passed, leaving the ranch and the mountains behind it glistening with dew. He drew a deep breath, inhaling the tangy aroma of the woods and the rich scent of hay. He loved the work and the land, and his role as protector of the cattle and the ranch.

"Rhubarb, it's a lovely morning, but the work won't get done by itself. Let's get cracking."

Rhubarb sniffed sympathetically and wagged her tail in pleasure at being with her companion and master. It was all a good dog needed.

Duke had left his horse and his dog outside the pasture. It was time to check on the calves in the birthing area. This was a separate enclosure from the main herd where he had moved the pregnant mothers in May, anticipating their calving time. Now it was calving season, and there were new calves every morning. He needed to ensure there were no complications, either with the birthing process or the health of the newborn calves. He lost a few every year to wolves, and one last year to a rattlesnake. He felt sad for the loss; unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it.

His face brightened as he saw a newborn, bawling and looking for her mother's teat for comfort. They both looked okay. The mother was guarding her baby more closely than usual, as if disturbed sometime in the night. Perhaps that would have been when the calf was born, maybe the scent of a wolf had disturbed her.

He needed to get close to make sure the calf was alive and well, not requiring any further care.

"I don't want to disturb you, girl!"

The mother mooed long and low, standing protectively close to her new calf.

Footsteps behind him made him turn around. Morris Weebly, the farm owner and his boss, was walking towards him, arms akimbo. He wore ranch clothes but not working clothes, with a clean white shirt and a woolen vest complementing his Stetson hat.

He tilted the broad hat in greeting.

In his usual gravelly-twang voice, he greeted, "Mornin' Duke. I've just come from the other pasture where the main herd is. Looks like a few of Belle's cows got mixed in there, broke in, and are grazing among ours. You'll have to drive them off yourself and mend the fence."

Not again! How could that be? He had just fixed the fence by the young cows and shooed them back inside. There must have been more broken fence on the other side.

"Well, you know without a ranch hand, things are tougher on her side, but she needs to find someone right smart. Or else she should be paying me for double the work! Boy, that woman gets my gander."

"I will have to go have a chat with Belle."

Duke tipped his hat at his boss and got on his horse, Rhubarb ready alongside him as they rode from the pasture, careful not to startle the mother cows or their new calves.

Duke passed the various grazing pastures, his mind on the day's chores. The young bulls would need feeding later. The promise of the future for the main herd, with only the best selected to survive. The breeding bulls, muscular and large, with shiny coats.

He passed under the gate of Weebly's ranch, locking it behind him, and down the dusty road, around the forest patch bend and its draping pine trees, until he reached the Belle ranch house. He dismounted at the wooden hitching post by the road and approached the red oak door.

Two young girls answered the door, one half a head taller than the other. "Hi Sally, Jill."

Belle's two young daughters smiled.

"Hi Mister Duke!" they said in unison.

"Woah! You're growing so fast! How old are you now?" He gave an exaggerated puzzled expression.

The girls laughed.

"I'm eight and she's ten!" said Jill, the younger, always the more social of the two.

"How's the ranch been?" he asked them.

Sally, the older, said, "Aww, without a ranch hand we have a lot more chores."

"As usual!" Jill cut in.

I've revised the passage for grammar, typos, spelling errors, syntax, and smoothed out some awkward sentences while maintaining the original content:

"Belle says it's good for girls to work hard, so we have skills and don't need to rely on a man for everything. We're still so grateful to Belle for taking us in from the orphanage two years ago."

"Should be birthing season for you all soon, too. Who's been looking after the stock without a ranch hand?"

"Us two. But we're pretty slow, and it's hard without horses. We pretty much just feed them grain since we can't move them between pastures right now," Sally sighed. "But it's going to get better! We hired a new ranch hand just last night!"

"Yeah! She came in from the rain, all wet!" Jill giggled.

"A new ranch hand? And a lady? Now I've heard everything."

Duke scratched his temple. That sounded mighty strange to him.

He got down on one knee to Sally's height, meeting her eye level.

"Can you point me in her direction?"

She smiled broadly and nodded vigorously, her light brown curls bobbing. "Yes, sir, I can!"

He couldn't help but smile as well. What adorable girls they were. It pained him, somehow, a part of him aching for a family like this, sweet daughters just like them, but being nowhere close at this point in his life. Perhaps never. It had been too much pain trying, breaking his heart in the process, and he wasn't sure he was ready to try again. But then he would never have the family his heart longed for.

Their golden Labrador, Buster, came bounding outside beside them. Duke put out his hand to stop him from running into the road, and the dog got distracted, sniffing and licking his hand, then jumping excitedly at the sight of him. That dog has a sweet soul, he mused. He's just never been trained right. Could be a top-notch ranching dog with a little help. Like good ol' Rhubarb. If I ever had some free time, I would teach him.

Sally took Duke by the hand, his heart sinking from how adorable she was, as she led him with enthusiasm around the side gate to the back of the property. There was a dusty middle area with a garden, pigpen, chicken run, and a barn on the side, a one-story glorified shed with two rooms flanking the middle area.

The late morning sun warmed the earth, and the sound of the chickens foraging on bugs in the hard ground was comforting. The farm was run down; he could see a half dozen tasks that had been neglected, and the disrepair bothered him. Oh well, not his job. The two girls warmed his heart, even if they were not part of his life. If he could get some cooperation from the new hired hand, things would pick up. He began to whistle, both pleased at the thought of the farm being maintained better and cheered by the cute sisters, in spite of his residual loneliness.

"She's over there by the cattle gates," Sally pointed to the central gate where several pens came together. A young woman wearing overalls, slacks, thick boots, and gloves was working a wheelbarrow full of feed.

Sally tugged at Duke's sleeve.

"We better go now before Ma gets cross with us. We gotta do chores, feed the pigs and chickens."

"Don't forget we got to weed the garden," her older sister reminded.

Duke tipped his hat to the girls, and they ran off in the playful manner of children. He approached the woman, his boots crackling on the rough pebbled ground.

The young woman was determined, he'd grant her that much. The wheelbarrow was heavy, teeming with buckets of oats, and her arms shook as her whole body leaned into the barrow, keeping it steady. She seemed to have a nice figure under the coveralls, though he'd never seen a woman in such manly clothes. Perplexing indeed. What would drive a lady to undertake such tasks?

He really couldn't imagine a scenario where it made sense, unless she was in real trouble. Escaping from a bad family, or on the run from outlaws, or even the law itself perhaps. He worried for her then.

He expected her to have some kind of facial deformity, a squint, or scar that kept her from marrying, but when she turned around, he was surprised to see large blue eyes sparkling under her broad hat, a dainty jawline framed by waxy brown hair.

"Well, miss, might it be easier to carry two buckets at a time?"

"This is more efficient; this is how my brothers do it."

"I see. Not if it spills and drops all on the ground, of course. Where are you taking that load?" Duke cocked a quizzical eyebrow.

"To feed the cattle, of course. Belle gave me the tour this morning. We've got the three breeding bulls over there, the regular herd of cows over there, and the ones with young calves separated there. After I feed them all their oats, I'll be saddling up to move each group to fresh pastures to graze. Who are you, anyway? I thought I was Belle's only ranch hand."

"Well, ma'am, I work for the neighbor, Mister Morris Weebly. I came here to tell you, first off, that your herd is bigger than you think. You forgot to mention the yearlings. But not to worry about that... They're currently over the hill, grazing on my managed property. Second, it appears you're feeding these oats to all your cows?"

"What's wrong with that?" Anna was puzzled.

"Just that, in my experience, it's best to feed the new moms and the young yearling calves a richer blend, to fatten them up. I could help you out, remix and help carry it over. You'll also want to rig up a fresh water supply; looks like the troughs are getting low."

She made a face. "I did grow up on a ranch with our own small operation, you know. I'm not totally clueless. Thank you very much, but I don't need your help. I am the ranch hand here, after all."

Duke shrugged, lifting his hands in submission. A stubborn one!

"Okay, suit yourself, but your cattle are going to escape again... Not fed right, no wonder they broke the fence and went out looking for better feed. I would be glad to help."

"What! I have only been working here a... Okay, so this is my first day."

She softened at his peace offering. Her cheeks blushed red as cherries. They were pretty cute. Better not to get attached, though.

This girl wouldn't last here a week. But she was cute as a button, even as she averted her eyes with embarrassment. He found himself wondering what it would be like to see more of her, maybe if she wore a dress instead of the coveralls...but there was no time for daydreaming; he had work to do.

"Do you want me to show you where they escaped onto my pasture?"

"Maybe I could use some tips. Truth be told, my brothers did all the work. I only ever looked after the dairy cow, chickens, and pigs."

"I understand. Be glad to help. Well, ma'am. When you're ready, I can take you to get your cattle back, and then I could use some help fixing these fences, considering they are Miss Belle's fences." He didn't want to rub in the fact that they were her responsibility, which had become his problem. He didn't think this girl had the first clue how to fix a fence correctly anyway, and leaving it to her would mean he would just have to do it himself again later.

He looked at the sky, assessing the day's weather. The rain had left it clear, cool, and windy.

She looked him up and down and nodded. "Alright, you look like a trustworthy man. I think that's mighty decent of you. And helping you is the right thing to do. I will join you shortly," she said, a look of determination in her eyes. "I will gladly do my job and help you fix the fence."

"Do you know where to go?"

She blushed. "Uh, no."

Cute, but stubborn. So unlike the women I have known.

He pointed to the forested hill beyond the pasture.

"Ride west over that hill until you see the big oak tree. Just below there is my barn. I can get my horse and lead you to the pasture when you are ready. We can fix the fence together today. It might help bring some much-needed neighborly peace around here. And you had better take care for the wind; on a day like today, it can gust pretty strong at the peaks of hills."

"Great, see you soon then."

Duke tipped his hat and went around to the front of the house to get his horse.